Glenn Beck Crossed the Line

What Glenn Beck claims to believe in and what I believe in, have a lot in common politically. I strongly believe in a limited government, freedom of religion, and personal responsibility. The difference is, I actually believe in these things. Politically, I believe not only in the wording of the Constitution, but also its spirit.

I believe the United States has, at its core, the Spirit of the Greatest Nation on Earth.

Too bad our political spectrum is so full of bull shit that we’ve all but killed that spirit off.

For some reason, the American people have allowed the media to polarize all of the ideology that made this nation great. Once we had a people that carried divided loyalties across the lines of Democrats and Republicans. The ideology of the two parties was at one time simple, Pro-Federal vs. Pro-States. It was a great dividing for early American government, because everything was new and needed those kinds of definitions. It was the debate our forefathers wanted us to have.

Then we invented the Radio, Television, and the Internet. Party lines became a lot more divided as politics reached a more and more diverse audience. Information got through to the people with radio and television, then, Internet gave them a very precious often wasted gift. People could start giving their opinions back.

Enter the journalistic corruption of the information age. Now, every two-bit hack with a twitter account and a blog can sit in their living room drinking Halo: Reach Edition Voltage Mountain Dew and spewing their opinions onto their web page. Was that too specific and personal? Probably.

The beauty of the information age is that we can voice our opinions to whoever wants to hear them. We can share our ideas and goals, even if they are as simple as, “Let’s not be bad guys,” or as complex as a ten party discussion on the intricacies of a flat tax. We have a voice.

The other side of that coin, is that in the modern age, journalists and news media outlets have an even bigger responsibility to maintain a detached truth in their reporting. The news needs to be non-biased information, unimpeded by the ideology of the people controlling it. Unfortunately, what we’ve got is Fox News and CNN, glorified tele-blogs.

Really, this is an argument of semantics, if they called themselves Fox Teleblog and CBN, I wouldn’t have any grounds for my dissapointment. Instead, they claim things like, “No Spin, Non-partisan News Networks” while hiring celebrity personalities to push their ideas forward and prey on the fears and hopes of millions of people worldwide to make a few more dollars.

Its irresponsible, and reprehensible.

The worst offenders by far are obvious, but so far most of them have kept from elevating themselves past that very thin line that really sets me afire with rabbid, frothing fury.

Until recently, none of these people have called themselves God.

I suppose in defense of Mr. Beck, he hasn’t actually called himself God, or come out and claimed to be a prophet in those words. What he has done, is claim that God has given him, directly, a plan for the next 100 years of America. His claim should actually be familiar to you, if you know your American History. Glenn Beck is making the same claims that the founder of his church, Joseph Smith, made 180 years ago. God has a plan for the United States, and I’m the only one who knows it. The difference in the claim now, is that Glenn has learned from the past, and won’t tell us what God has planned, beyond the idea that if we don’t stop what we’re doing and worship, we’ll be destroyed in some vague and eerie way.

The problem that makes Glenn Beck more dangerous than your average run of the mill crazy evangelist, is that he has become very good at actually identifying problems that America has. Now, his bat-shit insanity causes him to go with the opposite of the solution, but he can see the problems. More dangerous than that, he’s become very good at terrifying millions of Americans on a daily basis with them. He can see what it is you are afraid of, he uses it to manipulate you. Now, he’s crossing a line from just a sleazy pundit into the worst of the worst. He’s become a man that preys on faith.

Religion and I have a sordid past. Its taken me many years of study and research to find the relationship I have with God now. Its very personal, and very powerful. Faith is something I think is important. It’s as important as reasoning and logic in separating us from being just another group of primates. Despite your personal beliefs, and religion should be a very personal thing, faith gives a goal and a standard to elevate ourselves to.

God, by any name, gives us a higher being to aspire to be like, something better than ourselves. Theology is a power and important aspect of what it means to be human, it’s part of the very core experience of self. The longing desire to understand beyond ourselves is what drove mankind to the moon, and into the depths of the sea. Faith is something so powerful, that the innocent connection of it must be defended from those who would pervert and corrupt it for personal gain.

We, as a nation, must be weary of anyone that would attack our right to have a personal relationship with our God. We must guard against anyone who would willingly come forward to attack us in our most vulnerable and personal self. Anyone who is willing to push their agenda into that connection and relationship is guilty of the most serious crime and the most dangerous sin.

Published by M.A. Brotherton

M.A. Brotherton is a writer, blogger, artist, and fat-kid from the suburbs of Kansas City, Missouri. He’s tasted a little bit of everything the Midwest has to offer, ranging from meth-tweaking rednecks in massive underground cave complexes to those legendary amber waves of grain. When he’s not writing, he spends most of his time screwing around on the internet.